Mayor Brian Bowman is extending a neighbourly offer to a news anchor who famously pointed to Winnipeg saying "why would you go there?"

A newscaster is laughing at a writhing retort from Winnipeg's mayor in response to one of his most famous segments.

Many years ago, NTV news's Seth Denney filled in at the last minute to deliver the weather. As he stumbled along, Denney stopped short, pointing at Winnipeg on his map and said "who would want to live in Winnipeg by the way? Why would you go there?" This became one of the anchor's best-known moments.

"His co-anchor Colleen Williams reached out to ask if we'd be willing to do a fun response to Seth's weather forecast and Winnipeg reference," Jeremy Davis. Bowman's press secretary says in an email.

On the eve of Denney's retirement, Bowman answered Denney's question. 

"Just like you, I enjoy trying new things from time to time, so in this spirit, I wanted to use technology to give you a forecast of sorts on your retirement options," Bowman says, standing in front of a green screen map of Winnipeg.

Emphasizing that Winnipeg was named one of the world's greatest places by Time, he said "if you are going to retire, you might as well retire to one of the world's greatest places."

"Is there anyplace in Nebraska that made that list? No? That's a shame."

Mimicking Denney's original video, Bowman turned around and looked away from Nebraska while talking about it.

(Screenshot: NTV News/Twitter)(Screenshot: NTV News/Twitter)

Bowman did credit Nebraska for its "export" Neal Pionk, who the Winnipeg Jets signed in August.

"That guy's funny," Denney says in the video.

Bowman offered a personal tour to the anchor in February.

"The Mayor thought it'd be fun to send a response that used similar humour in return. No word from Seth yet though," Davis says.